Different shapes for different blends.

[Dave_In_Philly]

So I know this is a bit of a touchy subject, but I only mean to comment on my personal experience.

I have always been in the camp that says it just doesn't matter. I have never had flake pipes, or English pipes. I just smoked what I wanted in the pipe I wanted. I had pipes that I tended to smoke mostly Virgina Flakes in, and pipes that I tended to smoke heavy latakia blends in, but it was more of a coincidence than a hard and fast rule.

As those of you who frequent the PAD/TAD forum know, I just picked up a lovely Peterson Rosslare 606, which is a fairly classic pot shape. I know that the accepted logic would dictate that this would be a pipe for smoking complex ribbon cut, latakia blends, but I really didn't give it a second thought. When it showed up, the first thing I did was load it up with Blackwoods Flake and start puffing away. Well, it was as close to a bad experience as you can have with a good pipe and a great tobacco. The best way I can describe it is to say that it was flat. I considered offering the pipe up for sale right then and there, I assumed it just wasn't for me.

Last night I got to thinking, maybe there is some validity to the old common logic. I was jarring a new package of Penzance as it was, so I set a side a couple of flakes, rubbed them out and loaded up the 606. Thank goodness I did. I don't know if I have ever enjoyed a bowl of Penzance quite this much. Each leaf came through in its own right, and as I progressed into the middle of the bowl the smoke transformed from the Lat bomb that I have always known into something sweet and spicy and completely different.

So it seems, this pot at least, was destined to be dedicated to latakia. I'll be running some Star of the East through it just as soon as I have the time.

 

[sisyphus]

I definitely have a preference in chamber volume for different tobaccos, mainly centered around the fact that I like to smoke a bowl for approx. 2 hours, give or take 15 min either way.

The effect of chamber bore is harder to qualify. At this point in my life as a pipe smoker I would say that I like std to bigger circumference for Lat blends. Burleys also seem to do well in pots and large conical bore Dublins. For Va flakes I like a group 3. Narrow bores, no more than 3/4", do well, but I also like these in Princes with larger bore circumference. Va ribbons and broken flakes do well in a std (3/4-13/16") bore group 4.

I am still figuring out why I have the preferences I do, but I definitely lean toward certain bore geometries based on what I'm smoking. This inaccurately translates into shapes I tend to look at when I am looking for a specific niche on the rack; lovats, authors, zulus and princes for Va flake, billiards, apples and bulldogs for ribbon and broken flake, and pots, larger billiards and Dublins for Lat blends and Burleys.

 

[monbla256]

Over the years I've been smoking, I have found that bowl SHAPE has little to do wih HOW a blend type smokes as much as SIZE. I've been predominently an English/Balkan blend smoker and have a variety of shapes in my collection I've aquired. Most are in the grp3 to grp4 size and probably half of them are Bulldog/Rhodesians either bent or straight, with the rest divided btwn Pots, Lovats, and Apples. Since I started smoking Va's over the past few years, I've found that for the Va's I smoke and how I smoke them, fully rubbed out, dryed and sipped, seem to like my bigger bowled Pots and Apples as well as my larger Bulldogs. For me, the wider, larger bowl capacity seems to let these types of mixtures "open up" and deliver more flavor and nuance for me. I don't think you can really say there is a "certain" shape for specific types of blends as it all depends on each persons individual smoking habits and "system". :twisted:

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

In my mind there is causality, correlation and errant interpretation based on a variety of subjective factors, many of which we are not even aware. I tend to think in terms of the first when in fact it is the second; and the third more than either. But then again when I am subjectively interpreting, I don't know that I am.

The bottom line is that we stuff tobacco in a hole and set it on fire, and then suck that beautiful smoke into our mouths, where we taste it, classify it and play with it. Though a variety of factors contribute to a variety of smoking experiences, in the end the process is very much the same.

I think you guys have smoke in your eyes lol.

 

[KevinM]

Yah, I was surprised by the flashback. Thought I'd stumbled into an old but ongoing war.

I had read about the effect of pipe characteristics and tobacco on the smoke. Didn't pay much attention. Then I started putting a pipeful of tobacco on a saucer as an interim step in loading a pipe, which made me notice the characteristics of different cuts. Then I kept a smoker's diary for awhile, jotting down what I smoked in what, and my impressions.

I began to notice a consistently repeated correlation between the quality of the smoke, the pipe and the cut of the tobacco. Some pipers notice a big difference, some less, some not at all. It's all good as far as I'm concerned.

If all you want to do is stuff the bowl full using the "educated thumb" method, puff away for awhile and call it good, well, that's what works for you, I guess. If you're more analytical in your approach, that's fine too.

It's all info, freely given.

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

Over the years I've been smoking, I have found that bowl SHAPE has little to do wih HOW a blend type smokes as much as SIZE. I've been predominently an English/Balkan blend smoker and have a variety of shapes in my collection I've aquired. Most are in the grp3 to grp4 size and probably half of them are Bulldog/Rhodesians either bent or straight, with the rest divided btwn Pots, Lovats, and Apples. Since I started smoking Va's over the past few years, I've found that for the Va's I smoke and how I smoke them, fully rubbed out, dryed and sipped, seem to like my bigger bowled Pots and Apples as well as my larger Bulldogs. For me, the wider, larger bowl capacity seems to let these types of mixtures "open up" and deliver more flavor and nuance for me. I don't think you can really say there is a "certain" shape for specific types of blends as it all depends on each persons individual smoking habits and "system". :twisted:

This highly qualified statement comes closest to the truth, in my opinion. Notice that he says that his take on shapes derives from his smoking habits and system.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Ah, this old saw. I love and loathe it.

There's some truth to it. Some. How that truth transposes to one pipe to another, one smoker or another, or one tobacco to another is the stuff of legend.

I have a simple solution for myself, which sort of goes along with more reasonable thoughts expressed above:

1) I put tobacco in a pipe and light it up. If it hits 7 - 10 on the ten scale, I repeat it.

2) If repeat attempt replicates itself perfectly, I repeat it again.

3) If that repeat attempt replicates itself perfectly again, I then... repeat.

4) If, for some reason, there's a problem in the 1 - 6 realm (or I suspect the experience could be better), I change things. Hopefully back to step 1.

Yak once said pipes are female. If that's the case, they aren't all the same, but yet they are. There's a foundation of similarity in the chambers and shape, briar quality and engineering that may or may not agree with the fickle approach of both the pipe and the smoker--and the tobacco so cruelly caught in-between as it is lit.

There's a reason why I like my bent bulldogs: it's a configuration that works for me. I like the shape. I like the capacity. I like the dynamics. There's very few that I can't eventually pair up with some kind of tobacco to which I have taken a liking. Just wide enough, just deep enough. Similar bowl shapes lead to similar chamber dimensions.

I only avoid deep, large chambered pipes due to capacity... It'd take me more hours of head-spinning than I care to do. :drunken:

Flake pipes for me, the tiny ones, are useful for powerful stuff I like...plugs, especially.

Beyond that? Good luck finding a universal formula.

8)

 

[Puff Daddy]

All I know is what works for me.

Burley, it's fairly strong, and gives off it's best flavors when slowly smoldered, so smallish pipes seem to work best. I have a few Stanwells, a couple of featherweights, an HCA II, a Nanna egg. These are dedicated to Uhle's 00, Wesex burley slices, etc.. The pipes are roughly group three.

The same goes for stonger British tobaccos like Conniston cut plug unscented, Curly Cut regular, brown pigtail. I have a few group three straight pipes set aside for these tobaccos, among them a Mastro De Paja bulldog, a Parker Super Briar Bark billiard.

For English/Balkan/Oriental blends, my Peterson 999's are tops, as the chambers are a little wider and not so deep.

But it's not just about the dimensions. For whatever reason (the wood, the draw, etc) burley just tastes better in a Stanwell, Balkans taste better in a Peterson. In other brand pipes of the same dimensions, the end result isn't as good.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

brown pigtail

I have to dig the baggie of that stuff you sent me...

8)

 

[Puff Daddy]

Best ye be sitting down when ye smoke it lad

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

Over the years I've been smoking, I have found that bowl SHAPE has little to do wih HOW a blend type smokes as much as SIZE.

True, I guess I wasn't quite specific enough in my first post. I don't think that whether the pipe is shaped as a pot, dublin, billiard, eskimo, or otherwise makes any difference. I think the difference comes in the different diameter, depth, and drilling (conical vs. straight) of the chamber. Pots tend to be shorter, fatter and straight. My Volcano is taller and narrower, and my Mad Bulldog is short wide and conical.

In the past I have never noticed any significant difference in the smoking quality of any of my pipes. But I sure noticed a difference with this 606.

 

[monbla256]

Over the years I've been smoking, I have found that bowl SHAPE has little to do wih HOW a blend type smokes as much as SIZE.

True, I guess I wasn't quite specific enough in my first post. I don't think that whether the pipe is shaped as a pot, dublin, billiard, eskimo, or otherwise makes any difference. I think the difference comes in the different diameter, depth, and drilling (conical vs. straight) of the chamber. Pots tend to be shorter, fatter and straight. My Volcano is taller and narrower, and my Mad Bulldog is short wide and conical.

In the past I have never noticed any significant difference in the smoking quality of any of my pipes. But I sure noticed a difference with this 606.

Some good observations Dave, but something I feel has been missing in this discussion is the TYPE and AGE of briar used in the pipes. When I started smoking a pipe, it was not all that uncommon for many new, mid priced pipes ( $15.00 to around $30.00 40 years ago) could be had that were made from 100 yo briar ebucheons. This and the variety, geography wise, of the briar, ie, Algerian, Sardinian, Grecian etc as well as well as how and if the blocks were cured had effects on the way many pipes smoked. As if this wasn't enough factors, figure in HOW each smoker prepped their 'bac, loaded it and smoked and basically negates just about ANY definative rule as to what shape is a certain type of 'bac smoker.

 

[KevinM]

I like that Any definitive rule phrase. There are so many variables in operation that it's difficult for any two smokers to replicate the same conditions and then report the same results. There is some built-in frustration at work. But at a minmum I'd say that any particular piper, who cares to do so, can control his own circumstances, observe his own results and perhaps improve his own experience. We're not seeking definitive rules that apply to everyone, just a few rules of thumb that apply to yourself. This aspect of pipe smoking may not be of interest to all pipers, but those who start down the path might find the slight extra effort can enhance their experience. I'd say a good beginning is to keep a smoker's diary. No need for a ton of detail, a few cryptic notes served me well. Oh, yes -- jmho

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Best ye be sitting down when ye smoke it lad

Gotta temper myself with some Warror Plug or something, eh? :lol: :drunken:

I'm just charmed by the way they make that pigtail stuff... I don't know why I like it so much. I want to like it based on this alone.

I have just the li'l flake pipe for it...oh wait, unless I should go for a giant freehand full of the stuff since chamber/bowl shape doesn't matter... Heheheheh.

8)

 

[Puff Daddy]

Just remember, it takes quite a bit of drying, and thin, thin slices. It's bold but not over the top. I'm betting you like it

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Just remember, it takes quite a bit of drying, and thin, thin slices. It's bold but not over the top. I'm betting you like it

I have a pretty good cigar cutter I bought yeaaaars ago that I think could do the job quite nicely. Drying just isn't a problem out here in tumbleweedville.

Might just dig in to some this evening if the rain keeps up...

8)

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

If you like the pigtail, there's also the Twist and the Bogie (the most flavorful); and should you wish to continue down the HO highway, Dark Flake (my all-time favorite), Dark Birdseye and Kendal Kentucky. But the best of the best is Black Rope lol. Mmmmmmm. . .honest, last winter as I was "quitting smoking," after 10 years of trying to like it, I did. It had always had an overtone of machine oil or creosote. To make the black they top the brown with olive oil and bake it. They say the Black is less potent than the brown, but both are scorchers.

But rope is going for ~$70/lb. Too stiff for my blood. I like Dark Flake the best anyway, and you can still get 500g for $53. I've probably smoked it the most of any blend.

 

[Dutch]

I have had 3 pipes in my collection that didn't get much use, simply because the bowls were so large and deep. By the time I had smoked a half bowl of Frog Morton in any of the 3, the last half of the bowl was too wet to finish smoking.

I rarely sell a pipe, even if I am not keeping it in regular rotation, and now I am really glad that I wasn't quick to sell any of those 3 large capacity pipes.

I decided to buy a pound of Billy Budd, which is a cigar leaf blend. I noted that the price per pound was much cheaper when I purchased it, and once I smoked my first bowl, I understood why. This cigar leaf blend burned so quickly, I was finished with the bowl, long before I felt I wanted to.

Then one day about a week later, I looked over at my magnum Moretti billiard, and the light went off in my head. Not only did the blend taste great, but the larger capacity pipe allowed me the same length smoke as some of my regular blends. Billy Budd in a large capacity pipe, works exactly the opposite of smoking a folded flake in a small bowled pipe, but equals the same length smoking time, and quality of smoke experience.

I also noted that Billy Budd holds moisture less easily, making it burn quicker, but also making the entire bowl smokeable in a large capacity pipe, without accumulating too much moisture.

I also got good results with it, out of my other 2 large capacity briars, as well as a large capacity meerschaum. Now, I will be more open minded to purchasing another magnum sized, or chimney style pipe.

Now that I have started to experiment with different blends, in different shape bowls, I am fascinated with the decision making process. I have also learned that I enjoy my meers, but that the taste of tobacco burning in a briar is definitely superior to tobacco burning in a meer, at least to my palate.

 

[KevinM]

Bravo! Another pipester who proactively uses his experience and observations to enjoy his smokes.